The chupaqueso: Mozzarella shell, bacon and jalapeno filling
I’ll start with a mozzarella shell and use the Mexican cheese, bacon, and jalapenos for filling. The mozzarella shell is a bit easier to deal with, because it doesn’t turn greasy when you fry it, but it shrinks a bit in cooking.
Note that all of the ingredients are ready to hand. At the end of the process, you won’t have time to be running back and forth to the refrigerator. Get it all out and opened now. If, as with the jalapenos, the ingredients are packed in water or something similar, go ahead and put them on a paper towel to drain.
To start, I’ll sprinkle a handful of mozzarella onto the bottom of the skillet. This is slightly less than one cup. As you’ll see further down, this is somewhat less than is actually needed, so the result will come out a bit small. You’ll need to experiment a bit - especially since your hands are probably bigger than mine. Set the burner to full high heat.
Sprinkle it evenly in a circle. Don’t worry too much about holes or making the edges nice and neat. The melting cheese will take care of that for you. The cheese has just begun to melt in this picture.
After a few minutes, all of the cheese has melted and is bubbling nicely. Notice how the big gap in the previous picture has filled in.
This is the point where you need to start slipping your turner under the edges to detach the shell from the pan. The idea is to do it as soon as it holds together enough to flip. You can tell by watching as you pick up the edges with the corner of your turner. It will form a lip that doesn’t melt away immediately when it’s ready to turn.
Here, I’ve slipped the turner under the shell and am getting ready to flip it.
…and it’s flipped over, toasting the previously top side. You don’t need to do this for very long, or at all with a mozzarella shell, bit I prefer it this way because that keeps the filler cheese from mingling with the shell cheese.
After a little bit (just a small number of seconds), flip it back over.
This is the point at which speed is essential. From here on, the shell will only get harder, and if it gets too hard, you won’t be able to fold it over.
I’ve added about a half cup of the Mexican filler cheese (a small handful), bacon on top of that, and jalapenos on top of that. The filler doesn’t need to cover the entire shell; just sprinkle it in a row down the middle. You’ll fold the sides on top of that.
…as in this picture. Here’s where the small shell makes its presence felt. It was hard to fold over because there wasn’t much to fold.
Note: You’ll be tempted in this situation to use your fingers to help. Be careful! The shell is pure cheese, which has very little water content. Since there’s no water to moderate the temperature, it can and will get hotter than the boiling point of water! You can easily burn yourself!
The finished chupaqueso is laid out on a plate, ready to enjoy.